Following on the heels of its stablemate, the smallest model has performed well on the National Highway Safety Administration’s crash tests, earning a coveted five-star overall safety rating. Two months ago, the , while both the five-door and sedan scored five stars in each category except rollover, in which it earned four stars.
Performing well in a crash could also help those whose Sonics . In all seriousness, we’re always happy to see new models earn high scores in crash testing, because it means that they are safer. But it’s even better news when small cars score well, as it helps to dispel the false notion that size is the only thing that matters in a collision.
Chevrolet Volt and Fiat 500 sales flops, 14 million cars in 2012, most popular posts of 2011
Episode #263 of the is here with Chris, Dan, Chris Paukert, and Zach this week. Topics include the perhaps early condemnation of the Chevrolet Volt and Fiat 500 as flops, predictions of a 14 million new car year in 2012, and a little discussion around Autoblog’s most-read posts of 2011. Your questions and comments power the end of the ‘cast, and for those of you who hung with us live on our , thanks for taking the time. We’ve embedded our Q&A module for you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #263:
In the Autoblog Garage
Hosts: , , ,
Runtime: 01:13:39
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In spite of standing poised to retake the top sales spot, perhaps breaking its , and and two new models coming, GM’s stock price got beat like a goat in 2011. On January 2, 2011 the stock traded at $37.06, on January 2, 2012, it hovered a few dimes above $20, making GM the worst-performing auto-industry stock of 2011: with a 46.1-percent drop, it edged out Cooper Tire (-41.7), TRW Automotive (-40) and (-37.3).
The Motley Fool suggests the decline could be due to the Treasury’s ownership of hundreds of millions of shares, keeping investors wary about buying. Europe is also considered a sore spot, with GM’s operations on The Continent still in the red and there being no clear plan to turn that around (particularly with the ).
However, there is most likely more to it than that: many investors likely remaining unsure about company fundamentals, and they are likely concerned that GM (like Ford) is rated just below investment-grade by Moody’s rating service, which keeps some large institutional investors out of the pool. The good news for 2012: The General’ stock is trading at five times less than earnings and the outlook from all observers is uniformly positive.
We’re almost ready to record Episode #263 of the Autoblog Podcast. Check out the topics below and you can join us live via , as well, and we’ve embedded our UStream player Thanks for listening!
Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #263
We record Episode #263 of the Autoblog Podcast tonight, and you can drop us your questions via our Q&A module below. Check out our discussion topics or chime in to help determine what else the crew chats about this evening. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast if you haven’t already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #263
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in a effectively sealed his place in the hallowed halls of stunt driver lore. As it turns out, actually pulling off a 360-degree barrel roll in a vehicle is one of the most challenging stunts one can perform. Driving on two wheels? Cakewalk. Knocking down a series of ? As easy as sucking pea soup through a crazy straw. The barrel roll requires stacks of mathematical calculations to account for everything from the vehicle’s weight to its speed and the exact rotation angle of each ramp.
But Dyrdek wasn’t the first guy to successfully execute such a bit of insanity. He’s one of a select few stunt drivers to do the deed, and Popular Mechanics has taken a look at those who have tackled the automotive barrel roll in the past. Dyrdek’s stunt was actually an almost exact replica of the Astro Spiral Jump as performed in 1972 at the Houston Astrodome. That exercise used a significantly classier AMC Javelin, however. Head over to to check out the video series and click for a clip on the Astro Spiral Jump.
We report on a lot of recalls, and most are seemingly innocuous defects that require the solar system to perfectly align before anything catastrophic could happen. Then there are recalls like this one for the that appear to be much more dangerous than they probably are.
It turns out that let a few Sonics built between June 2 and November 21 leave its factory in Orion Township, Michigan minus a brake pad. General Motors claims that of the 4,873 Sonics built during that time, some 20 to 30 may be missing either an inner or outer front brake pad. The company says 4,296 of the potentially shoe-less Sonics were sent to the U.S., while 577 migrated north to Canadian customers.
A car minus just one inner or outer brake pad doesn’t lose its ability to stop, but its braking performance will suffer and there is the possibility that other elements of the braking system, like the caliper or rotor, could be damaged as a result of their omission.
GM vows to notify all potentially affected Sonic owners and install any missing pads and, if necessary, replace any calipers or rotors free of charge.
puts out APB on missing Sonic brake pads, issues recall
‘Tis the season for thin news cycles and cheesy top ten lists. Yahoo! Finance has thrown its hat in the top ten ring with its list of the biggest flops among all consumer goods introduced for 2011. Both the and have made it among the chosen few, rubbing elbows with such luminaries as Netflix’s Qwikster and Disney’s Mars Needs Moms.
Why the Volt? Yahoo! points to the vehicle’s underwhelming sales, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fire investigation and misguided General Motors executives as indicators of the plug-inhybrid’s failure. We think that’s a bit harsh given the fact that the Volt wasn’t on sale across the country for most of the year, and we’ve harped on how absurd the NHTSA fire issue is in the past, so we’ll save the digital ink here.
And what of the Fiat 500? It’s no secret the adorable Italian hatchback has missed its sales goals by a country mile. While had hoped to move 50,000 models this year, actual U.S. sales for the year will probably end up around 20,000 units, which really isn’t too bad. Those early sales targets were picked straight from the crazy buffet to begin with, and the fact that the 500 suffered production delays, dealership network woes and a didn’t help matters. Still, do those issues make the 500 one of the biggest product flops of 2011?
For our money, it’s too early to call either of these vehicles flops – moving 20,000 relatively expensive very small cars for a new-to-the-U.S. (well, “new again,” at least) brand doesn’t sound too bad to us, and putting the Volt on the list when it wasn’t available to most consumers strikes us as Yahoo! Finance trolling for controversy. What say you? Drop us a line in Comments…
‘Tis the season… for road salt. And with that, comes rust. And what does rust bring? Well, for and General Motors, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation. According to The Detroit News, NHTSA is looking into potential recalls issues with Express vans and Ford Freestar minivans.
The feds have received five complaints that rust has caused leaking fuel filler pipes on 2003 vans. Separately, seven complaints have been filed over excessive rust in the rear wheel wells of 2004 Ford Freestar and Monterey minivans. The Freestar and Monterey . Neither issue has resulted in any crashes or injuries, according to the report.
is running deeper and deeper into social media, its latest reach-out to frienders and lurkers being a video contest called . More than 190 films from filmmakers in 32 countries have been submitted for the chance to have their effort aired during the 2012 Super Bowl.
On top of that, Chevrolet has partnered with to let you – that’s right, you – help decide which clip will reach the end zone. But wait, there’s more: by voting and scribbling an answer to the question, “If you could drive to any destination in your home country, where would you go?”, you’ll get the chance to win up to $10,000.
The contest is open to “eligible fans” from Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the UK and U.S. So head on over to the link to get watching and ranking, and remembering which hidden locale in your homeland most calls to you.
But before you do that, be sure to check out the high-res gallery of stills from some of the submitted vids (pictured above is from “Generations”), and then head on to watch one of them, “Spy Thriller,” and to read all about the contest.
took to the , among them four variations on themes from the Z-Spec parts bin, the Super 4 Racer for the track, and a brazen red hatch called the Boom. Based entirely around a 4,000-watt Kicker sound system, the Sonic Boom contains a high-tech head unit controlling components designed with a jet theme, and a report on the Chevrolet Sonic forum indicates it’s headed for production.
There aren’t many details to share, other than that Chevy has reportedly applied for a “Sonic Boom” trademark, but ChevroletSonicForum.com says their GM sources tell them that a planned retail version will take a step down from its 4,000-watt progenitor. Chevrolet has already admitted it wants to create a model selection that puts the Sonic into niche markets, and with a deep trough of Z-Spec add-ons, even as a concept the Sonic Boom doesn’t appear to be too far from production-ready.
Turns out the stunt team isn’t finished finding things to do with its . Not long after skater (or barrel-rolled, whichever you prefer) a Sonic, one of the team that put that stunt together decided to take his Sonic ’skiing,’ which means putting it on two wheels. Then, once on two wheels, decided he’d take a casual drive through the workshop of J.E.M. F/X, a special effects outfit in Valencia, California. Then he parked it.
The hatchback antics are in the video , this time minus Dyrdek’s contortionist faces. And we’re pretty sure that after one more of these oddball excursions we can start calling the Sonic “hedgehog.”
It’s been a good year for . The company marked its 100th anniversary in 2011 and is set to beat its all-time sales record. That’s not a bad way to celebrate if you ask us, particularly just a couple of years removed from the bankruptcy of its parent company. The automaker has sold 4.8 million units worldwide through November, and December isn’t looking to slacken the pace. Chevrolet managed to carve out nearly half a percentage point of additional global market share this year. What’s more, sixty percent of the company’s vehicles are now sold outside of the U.S. in a bid to move Chevy more into the global arena. That’s thanks in part to growth in markets like China, Vietnam, Europe and South Korea as well as solid sales in familiar stomping grounds like South America.
Here in the States, Chevrolet is slotted behind first-place in total consumer market share. Even so, vehicles like the may soon improve the automaker’s fortunes. General Motors says Chevrolet dealers have just a 17-day supply of the new B-segment bruiser.
We can now safely say Rob Dyrdek is officially the first man on Earth to successfully kickflip a . The kickflip is, in effect, a barrel roll, wherein a skateboard performs a complete heels-to-Jesus 360. That’s challenging enough when it’s just your two legs standing between you and success. Throw in the mass of a B-segment hatchback and a whole separate set of challenges await. set up two corkscrew ramps for the stunt, and Dyrdek managed to vault the Sonic over a novelty-sized skateboard before crashing back down to Earth.
The video after the jump is brief, but entertaining in its own right. We’re less impressed by the rotation of the Sonic than we are the spectrum of emotion that splays across Dyrdek’s face – the latter of which we can’t help but say reminds us of Jeff Daniels’ facial contortions in Dumb and Dumber. to check out the hilarity for yourself.
It seems you can’t offer a pony car these days without also making available a full race-spec drag racing version. was first with its Cobrajet, then came with the Mopar Challenger Drag Pak, and soon we’ll have an offering from .
That car will be based on the , which debuted last month at the in Las Vegas and whose name, COPO, harkens back to a time when sly dealers could order a -powered Camaro from the factory without the big wigs knowing. But unlike most concept cars, the COPO Camaro Concept is a rolling prototype for the production version that’s to follow.
As such, engineers from General Motors have been working on the car’s development for over three years, and today they released a video featurette showing the concept’s first run out in the real world. According to the video, engineers ran the car all day long with a number of engine set ups and it “met or exceeded” all expectations.
Watch the video for yourself . Now all we need is some three-lane drag strips to see these straight line ponies face off at the same time.
The Detroit News reports that will resume full production of the today, after a supplier issue caused a production snarl at its Lordstown, Ohio facility . On Tuesday, the Lordstown facility’s third shift was put on hold, and both the first and second shifts were shortened. Full production will resume when third shift workers arrive tonight, and GM states that employees scheduled to work the first and second shifts on Friday should report at their regularly scheduled times.
It is still unclear exactly what sort of supplier issue caused the Cruze plant to go partially offline this week. Either way, we’re sure that the plant’s 4,500 employees will be happy to be back at full capacity.
After languishing in mediocrity for far too long, the can’t come soon enough, and our shooters managed to snag a camouflaged prototype – both inside and out – for the first time.
Based on the long-wheelbase version of the Epsilon 2 platform, the reimagined Impala is set to be powered by a choice of either GM’s 3.6-liter V6 or its . An eAssist version is also likely to be offered soon after its debut.
Inside, we get a glimpse of a reworked interior that’s more plush than the current model, complete with leather dash and trim, tasteful aluminum accents and a sizable nav screen front-and-center.
The exterior is harder to gauge, but the ride height is noticeably lower, the roof and windshield more raked and the front fascia has taken on a pointed, -esque shape. We should know more in the coming months before takes the wraps off in the first half of the year.
Automotive News reports Opel is delaying delivery of its Ampera extended-range hybrid to customers. The plug-in gas-electric hatchbacks have already arrived at dealers across Europe, but the automaker wants to ensure the vehicles’ batteries are safe even in the event of an accident. The delay comes on the heels of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration evaluation which saw its twin catch fire three weeks after a . Since the Volt and Ampera are mechanically identical, Opel says that it wants to set up a process to deal with the batteries to make sure they’re safe.
Both the Volt and the Ampera are assembled at the General Motors plant in Hamtramck, Michigan, and both make use of lithium-ion batteries to power their electric motors. GM has any Chevrolet Volt models from owners concerned about the safety of their vehicle, but few have taken them up on the offer. The company is currently working on a solution to the fire issue, and the why it took NHTSA so long to bring the battery pack problem to light.
It was the urban legend to top them all, the one every car guy wants to be true: Dude straps a jet engine to his and goes for the ride of his life, which, of course, ends with his death.
Even though it dates back to the 1960’s, according to rumor-debunking website , it was the first big Internet-fueled urban legend, spread across the world in 1995 by then-novel e-mails with subjects like “Darwin Award Winner.”
Of course, there’s no such thing as the Darwin Awards. But now, finally, there is a JATO-powered Impala. The genius of race car driver Paul Stender, he of and fame, this ‘67 Impala was conceived with the best intentions: Make the legend come true. And yes, we know the subject was covered in the very first pilot episode of Mythbusters, but they didn’t use the right rocket, did they?
Click to see video of the rocket-powered beater Chevy.
No brand escapes the keen tuning eye of Bulgarian tuner Vilner, from the that first brought them to our attention, to the and that’s kept them there. This time it’s a take on the that takes Cinderella for its inspiration.
This might not be the Cinderella you’re familiar with, however. Apparently in the Bulgarian version the fictional princess has a serious craving for leather, and leather, and, um, leather, along with a little chrome and Alacantara, followed by a generous helping of leather.
In the words of Vilner, it’s “a beautiful fairy tale.” You can decide for yourself with a read of that fairy tale , and high-res look at it in the gallery of images above.
